What kinds of experiences should we Christians seek? We need a vision before God like Abraham had, we need a life like Isaac had, and we need the discipline of the Holy Spirit like Jacob had. These are the three specific experiences that we should pursue. We should never think that one of them is good enough. We must have all three experiences before we can become valuable in the eyes of the Lord. We must have a vision that sees what God is after. We must have a vision that sees that everything is of Him and that He is the Father. At the same time, we must know the life of Christ and know that His grace is our strength. If we live by the flesh, we will not reach God's goal. His work, not ours, will make us His vessel. After we have seen the life of Christ, we may still be ignorant of our flesh. Consequently, it is easy for us to replace the life of Christ with our natural strength and take the grace of the Lord to glorify ourselves and use it as our boast and our pride. This is why we need the discipline, like that which Jacob experienced.

When we have the vision, we see what God is doing. When we have the life, the overcoming life, we can praise and have the confidence to overcome. But there is still another aspect; God has to deal with us. If we know the God of Isaac, we will have the confidence to say, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ" (2 Cor. 2:14). "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. 8:35). However, we still need to know the God of Jacob. God's dealings with Jacob tell us that it is still possible for us to fail. We cannot guarantee our trustworthiness. If the Lord does not protect us, we can become weak and fallen at any time. In Isaac we know Christ. In Jacob we know ourselves. Because we know Christ, we have confidence, and because we know ourselves, we lose our own confidence. When these two combine together, we will fully live Christ.

Some people have seen that God is the Father, that He is everything, and that everything is of Him. Yet they still try to deal with themselves, suppress themselves, and restrict themselves by their own effort. While they are doing these things, there is nothing within them to positively support them. As a result, they go through much suffering only to find that they have not yet attained. This is not the spiritual way. Other people have seen that Christ is life. They have received Christ and the overcoming life. But they forget that their natural life still exists. They have not seen that their natural life needs to be dealt with just as their sins needed to be dealt with. As a result, they mistakenly regard things that pertain to the natural life as manifestations of the overcoming life. Again, this is not the spiritual way. It is not enough just to realize that Christ is the overcoming life. We must also see the natural life.

In order for us to be God's people, to be His vessel, to maintain His testimony, and to reach His goal, we have to know God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. All three experiences are necessary. Having just one or two is not enough. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see the vision of His demands. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see His work in Christ and that Christ is our life. The day will come when God opens our eyes to see that He has to touch our natural life and break its strength. If we see these three things, we will go forward. I repeat that these three things are specific experiences. Just as God revealed Himself to Abraham and became the God of Abraham, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. Just as He revealed Himself to Isaac and became the God of Isaac, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. Just as He revealed Himself to Jacob and became the God of Jacob, He has to reveal Himself to us to become our God. We must know God in these three aspects. We have to know the meaning of God being the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. We must have these three experiences before we can go on in a proper way.